We have some really good news for you! The previously announced free Campaign update is now ready to enter Public Beta! We will keep it there for a few days just to make sure everything is how it should be and later release it on the main "branch".
This patch focuses on redesigning the tutorial experience into a more in-depth and approachable campaign. We have prepared fifteen distinct scenarios, each focused on one major game mechanic of Lords and Villeins which can now be introduced in bigger detail, with video tutorials, tips and challenges along the way. As you progress through the campaign, you will unlock more features until finally reaching the full complexity of the sandbox mode.
While new players are the focus of this patch, we also wanted to bring something for our existing players to play through the campaign. So for each campaign map we are adding a unique scenario with special permanent buffs that alter the gameplay in a thematic way. As you progress through the campaign, you unlock these buffs into the sandbox mode, where you can play with any combination of them as you like!
As of now, we are releasing the update with only the English localization, but we will be adding other languages before the patch goes live on the main branch, which is when we will also update the wording of any tutorial-related achievements.
HOW TO JOIN THE PUBLIC BETA:
If you're still not a part of the Public Beta and you wish to be, entering it is incredibly easy! All you have to do is right click on the game in your Steam library, select Properties, Betas and find the "artisanbeta" branch. If you encounter any bugs or have any feedback to share, we would love to hear from you! Share them here on Steam forums, or come join our dedicated Discord server.
What Is Next?
While this marks the end of the previously announced three major post-release patches, that we have announced at the end of last year, this is not the end! We continue working on the balancing and performance and we have more amazing things to announce soon, but right now, we are still not ready to bring you more details. So, we will just leave you with a mysterious teaser that we have recently published on our social media and let you speculate!
Change Log:
Brand new campaign mode!
- Play through 15 new maps, each themed around a core game mechanic of Lords and Villeins
- Experience a narrative element of a noble house growing their reputation with the royals
- The campaign is aimed to introduce new players to the game in a more detailed and approachable way
- Each map introduces a buff that modifies the game behavior. Unlock these buffs for your sandbox games as you complete the campaign.
Other:
- Added a new Settlement tab in the accounting tab that displays the wealth information
- When placing trees or soil you can now use the scroll wheel to change the grid pattern
- Family creation is now a separate step so you do not have to confirm it every time you create a new map
- Expanded campaign with video tutorials
- Default socage tax is now 25%
- Brewing station, Filtering tub and Windmill no longer require a carpenter to be built
- Added the ability to caravans to pick up trashpiles and keep them in their pocket in the unlikely event of dropping a trashpile
- Restricted collecting resources the caravans own to only one person per family to reduce the likelihood of dropping a trashpile due to single-frame reservation concurrency issues
- Added a note to caravan storage and storefront showing which family is assigned to them
- Added a randomized maximum amount per item limit in the quest deliveries to prevent impossible scenarios (i.e. 600+ bottles requested since value of each bottle is low)
- Variety of bug fixes
Also, please, note that the new content is currently localized to English only. The full localization process will start after we make sure that the build is in a good to go condition.
